Zutara Month 2020
by Excited-Insomniac
Summary: What it says on the tin. Rated M for some rather intimate moments between our main couple.


**Happy Zutara Month 2020! I challenged myself to write a oneshot/drabble a day all in the same continuity. That meant I had to twist a few prompts (and flat-out ignore a couple), but I had a good time and I hope you enjoy them :)**

**If you want to read them chronologically, they go: 1, 3, 5, 29, 16, 10, 6, 24, 18, 2, 11, 4, 9, 13, 15, 7, 23, 20, 14, 26, 17, 22, 21, 12, 27, 28, 8 (19 and 25 not included)**

1 - Blue Spirit and Painted Lady

It was late on Ember Island, but the Gaang was still up talking. They had come back from watching the Boy in the Iceberg feeling disheartened and unhappy, and Sokka had insisted on telling the truth about several of their exploits that the play had gotten especially wrong. Soon all six of them were gathered around the fire, laughing and talking. Katara and Sokka had told the story of what happened when they actually found Aang in the iceberg, and then Katara declared that everything the play implied about her and Jet was a lie (Toph laughed). Sokka explained the tradition behind the Kyoshi Warrior uniform and how proud he'd felt to wear it (Suki smiled warmly), and then Zuko asked, "Katara, did you really dress up as the Painted Lady at that village?"

"Yeah," she said. "It was the best way I could think of to help them."

"Did you, er, hear any of her legends while you were there?"

"Not really. They just said she was the Spirit of their river. I saw her, just for a minute, after we spent all that time cleaning and helping them. She said 'thank you'."

Exclamations followed this: Sokka went, "Woah, no way!" and Aang said, "You never told me that, Katara!" in an oddly offended voice.

"That's it? Just that she was the river's Spirit?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Uh, no reason. Just that that's, uh, only part of it. She's the Spirit of all rivers and springs in the Fire Nation. She's actually a pretty big deal." Zuko rubbed the back of his neck. He didn't know it was one of his worst tells for when he was lying.

"Oh!" Katara looked pleased. "I guess that makes it even more ironic for me to have assumed her identity for a little while."

"Yeah," Zuko agreed. "Ironic…" But he wouldn't look at her. And she noticed.

So the next day when Toph was training Aang and Sokka and Suki had gone to town for supplies (and to make out on the path to and from, everyone knew it), Katara asked Zuko to help her make lunch, and he obliged, though with a little more awkwardness even than usual. They talked about Aang's training while Zuko rinsed the rice and Katara chopped veggies, and when a lull in conversation came, Katara let it get almost comfortable before asking, "There's more to the Painted Lady legends than you said last night, isn't there?"

Zuko froze as completely as if she'd waterbended ice all over him. "Uh," he said.

"You wouldn't react that way if I weren't right," she said smugly.

"Well, I mean, they only really make sense for… that is the Fire Nation has some pretty old ideas about… I mean, it's about the historical rules around a Fire Lord's ascension to the throne. It's pretty boring."

"I believe that about as far as I can throw you."

"You've thrown me pretty far in fights and sparring matches."

She snorted. "Is it really that bad? Does she secretly eat babies or something?"

"What? No! Why would you even—No. Although babies aren't… unrelated." His face was hot and red.

"Now you've got me curious!" she said, tossing a slice of carrot at him. It stuck to his cheek and she grinned, even though his mention of babies had her slightly nervous.

Scowling and removing the offending plant-matter, he seemed to steel himself before he spoke. "There's… a very old legend about her. Very very old, alright, hundreds of years old. People doubt it even used to happen, so me even telling you this is—"

"Zuko, I get it," she laughed. "It's probably not real, now tell me!"

He huffed a breath. His face was still very red. "Fine. They say that when a Crown Prince of the Fire Nation was about to turn of age, he would travel out to a certain spring in the mountains around the capital and sleep the night there. It was said… that if he was fit to rule one day, if he was just and good and strong, then the Painted Lady would come to him and… 'make him a man'." His face was practically scarlet and Katara had stopped cutting her carrots. Neither of them looked at each other.

"What if… what if he wasn't fit to rule?" Katara asked, dying for some levity. Anything to break the tension that had suddenly settled over them like fog. "Did she… I don't know, make him a Waterbender or something?"

"She killed him," he said baldly.

"She—!" That shocked her to the point that she actually looked at him. She had a sudden, intense memory of threatening him with the end of his destiny when he'd first joined them at the Western Air Temple. She'd been so angry with him back then, that saying she would kill him hadn't really even phased her. But that, combined with her unknowingly taking the identity of the Spirit meant to deflower Crown Princes of the Fire Nation if they were fit to rule, but would kill them if they weren't, had her feeling a very strange sense of vertigo. And part of that, she realized slowly, was that the idea wasn't… wholly unappealing. As far as this particular Crown Prince was concerned, anyway. "Well," she said. "That's… interesting."

And Zuko, who had been turning the exact same memories over in his mind since the previous night, felt the tiniest spark of hope.

2 - Momtara and Dadko

They were supposed to be in bed already, but Hira was the Princess and Timao was the Prince and they were sure that no one would punish them that badly for breaking the rules. And they just wanted to see some of the party, that's all. They gripped each others' hands as they scurried down some of the narrower hallways, giggling and shushing each other. Six and four years old, respectively, their pattering footsteps echoed behind them till they came to a side entrance of the ballroom. They hushed each other, bickering between times, and snuck along the short passageway. It was for servers to come and go by, so it was in a discreet corner of the ballroom, and it was easy to duck behind the curtains that lined the walls and hurry along, hidden, till they came to another break and could peak out unseen.

The party itself hadn't started yet: guests were mingling around chatting, but there was no dancing, not even food yet. Hira explained these things to her brother, who irritably said he knew already, even though he didn't.

Parting the curtains the as much as they thought they could get away with, they eagerly examined the crowds. A lot of them were Fire Nation, but lots of them wore green too, and there were a lot of people in blue, like Mommy usually wore. They recognized Grandpa Iroh, and Uncle Sokka and Aunt Suki (Hira was glad their son Tuluk wasn't there: being half a year older than her wasn't enough of an advantage to earn him admission to the adult world yet), and there was Aunt Toph and Uncle Aang, and Aunt Toph had a big tummy because there was a baby in there, Mommy had explained. And there were lots and lots of others too, and Hira was practically dying to run out and join them, and show Grandpa Iroh her newest Firebending move, and make Uncle Aang Airbend her way up high in the air, but she knew that she would get in trouble, even if only a little bit, and Timao too, so she held back. Watching was still good.

But then someone hit a big gong somewhere and all the people all got quiet and turned to the far end of the ballroom, and at the top of some stairs, a red curtain like the one Hira and Timao hid behind was pulled aside and there were Mommy and Daddy, all tall and regal. Hira had recently heard the word 'splendid' in a story, and decided it applied to her parents. She was breathless with admiration of them. "Fire Lord Zuko and Lady Katara!" someone announced, and clapping started till Daddy held up his hand and it stopped.

"Thank you all for being here," Daddy said, and Uncle Sokka wolf-whistled. Mommy shot him a scolding look and for a breathless moment Hira thought Mommy's eyes had caught on her and Timao's hiding place, but then she looked away and it was safe again. "In the ten years since the end of the War, we have made tremendous progress together. In no small part, that's due to the incredible hard work of the people in this room, and I am humbled and honored to host you all here."

"Please enjoy the evening, and let our friendship set the stage for another prosperous decade for the world," Mommy said, and there was clapping again. Mommy and Daddy went down the rest of the steps and disappeared into the people who gathered around them.

They watched on longer. Timao started to drowse and Hira was thinking of taking them back to their bedrooms when all at once the curtains hiding them were swept aside and Mommy and Daddy were towering over them. Hira squeaked and tripped on her nightgown, and Timao yelped and tried to dive behind the curtain again, but he was sleepy and confused and went for Daddy's robes instead.

"Why, look at this, Zuko: a pair of trouble-makers have snuck into the party!"

"I think you're right! What do you suppose we do to them, Katara?"

Mommy tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Feed them to the turtleducks?"

"Mommy, no!" Hira cried, scrambling to her feet. "We just wanted to see!"

"It was Hira's idea!" Timao exclaimed, pointing.

"Hey! It was not!"

Mommy and Daddy were both laughing. "Come here, lovies," Mommy said, bending to pick Hira up as Daddy bent to get Timao. Safe in their parents' arms, they stuck their tongues out at each other, but then they were moving out to see the guests and they had to be the Princess and the Prince again, best behavior, even if they were in their pajamas. They got to see Uncle Sokka and Aunt Suki, who said that Tuluk would surely be very jealous that they had been there and he hadn't, and Grandpa Iroh exclaimed over them, and Hira got to touch Aunt Toph's belly, and Uncle Aang did throw them up high in the air with his bending, even though it made Daddy really nervous. They were giggling and giddy when Daddy took them both in his arms, quickly kissed Mommy, and took them out into the hallway all on his own, even though servants offered to escort the Prince and Princess to their rooms so that he could stay at the party. He put them both to bed in Hira's room, kissing them each on the forehead. "Have we had enough of an adventure for one night, would you say?" he asked, smiling down at them.

Hira snuggled into her pillow, happy and warm. "Yes," she said.

"But maybe tomorrow we'll need another one," Timao said.

Daddy laughed. "We'll see about that. Sleep tight now. I love you." He gave them one last tight hug and lit the candle on his way out for Timao's nightlight.

Hira and Timao cuddled up in the dimness, and just as they were dropping off, Hira said, "Our Mommy and Daddy are the best Mommy and Daddy."

"I know," Hira agreed sleepily. "The very best."

3 - Season 4 Zutara

After the defeat of the Fire Lord and Zuko's coronation, the Gaang went through a reverse of the growth it had gone through over the course of the year. Zuko had to remain in the Fire Nation, of course, to rule and start getting his Nation back on the right track. Katara, Sokka, Suki, Aang and Toph all went back to the Earth Kingdom to help the colonies transition out of Fire Nation rule, where Toph got caught up in training former soldiers in how to use their bending in reconstruction and farming efforts. When Katara, Sokka, and Aang left for the south, she stayed behind. Sokka and Suki stayed in Omashu when they passed through, with the intention of eventually heading to Kyoshi Island. Katara and Aang continued south until they finally came to the Southern Water Tribe and joyfully greeted Katara's family. They stayed for a month, and when Aang said he was thinking of going to the Southern Air Temple, and perhaps then to the Eastern one and asked her to come along, perhaps as more than a friend, she turned him down and stayed in her home.

She spent almost a year there, a joyful year of rebuilding and teaching and learning. She strengthened her healing skills, and taught all the benders who had come from the North what she knew of the Southern form of the art. There was some resistance at first, but when Pakku became her first, and most willing pupil, the protests stopped. Sokka and Suki split their time between the Tribe and Kyoshi Island, and she got letters from Aang, and Toph when she had a reliable scribe, and Zuko. She realized over the months that she paid the most attention to his letters, and anticipated them most eagerly, and answered them most quickly. And sometimes at the end of her report on the Tribe she would add something like, _I remember when we were in the Fire Nation last summer there were the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen. Is that true again this year?_

And he wrote back, _I went and checked, and I think they're even better this year. I've been so busy I wouldn't even have left the palace this month if you hadn't given me the idea._

And she wrote back, _I'm glad you got to see them. Do you still have time to bend with all your work? I remember how impressive you were, training Aang. I really enjoyed sparring with you back then._

And he wrote back, _I miss sparring with you too. I'm sure you've learned so much this year, being home and able to practice all the time. It would be great to see you again._

And she wrote back, _I think my pupils can stand it if I were to be away for a little while. And it would be great to see how much you've done with the Fire Nation since the war's end. And it would be wonderful to see you too._

And he wrote back, _I'm feeling brave, so I'll just say it: I miss you, more than I miss any of the others. It would make me really happy if you came to stay for a while. Maybe a long while, if you wanted._

And she wrote back, _Don't bother answering this one, I'll arrive there before your answer gets here._

4 - Don't Hurt Him

"That is IT!" Hira shouted, slamming into her mother's study. "This is the LAST straw! I can't BELIEVE him! UGH!"

Katara, startled, quickly put her brush down before she blotted the report she was writing. "Who?" she asked. "Timao? Your dad?"

"No!" Hira raged. "Stupid Akio!"

"Ah," Katara said, placing the situation. Hira was just recently fifteen and her first romantic entanglement was proving tumultuous. Akio, the young man in question, had several times failed to reach Hira's expectations on dedication and thoughtfulness. "What has he done this time?"

"What HASN'T he done!" Hira exclaimed, stomping angrily back and forth. Katara watched her daughter, amusement balancing out her concern. She'd never gone through these stages of dating when she was young (trying to stop a war did tend to put a damper on one's love life, and then afterwards she and Zuko had fallen together so naturally….) so she didn't have much sage wisdom to offer. All she could do was listen and hopefully that would be enough. "He hardly listens to me when I talk, I can tell, he's always thinking about something else and it drives me CRAZY! And then he goes and acts like he doesn't know what I'm talking about when I call him out on it. Like, he can't act like I don't know what I'm talking about! It's my life!"

"That's right," Katara agreed, concerned.

Hira went on without seeming to hear. "I think I've just gotta really stick it to him somehow, really show him that he can't get away with that stuff. I'm his girlfriend! And he asked ME out! If he thinks that's all it takes, he's got another thing coming!"

Katara smiled to hear her daughter use a phrase she'd grown up hearing Gran-Gran say. "Well," she said mildly, "don't hurt him."

Hira cast her a deeply dubious look.

"Too badly," Katara amended with a smile.

Hira snorted. "Thanks, Mom," she said sincerely, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek and then dashing back out of the office. Katara shook her head to get it back to the report she'd been writing, but smiled as she worked. The new generation was growing up happy and strong and smart, and it was everything she had ever hoped for.

5 - Southern Water Tribe Culture

Katara had been in the Fire Nation for almost six months. She hadn't planned to be there so long, but her letters home saying her stay was going to be extended earned only the written equivalent of knowing glances and 'mmm-hms'. But she couldn't even bring herself to be that offended, because they were right. The potential she had felt stirring between herself and Zuko as they exchanged letters after the War ended, she from the South Pole, he from the Palace, had roared to life almost as soon as they'd seen one another. It had taken a month or so after that for them to own up to it, but since then they'd wasted no time. Katara had been included in everything Zuko did, all of his decisions, all of his meetings, all of the things he had to do from day to day to keep his Nation afloat and his people faithful in him.

And every couple of weeks, that meant attending some kind of performance or concert (the theater too, though some noticed that the Fire Lord did not favor that form of entertainment as much as the others). On this particular evening, it was a dance performance, something beautiful and fast and sultry, full of flowing scarves and high split jumps and passion. Katara and Zuko had both been completely enthralled, and talked eagerly about it on the walk back to the Palace. They were surrounded by nervous guards the whole time, none of them quite used yet to royalty who didn't ride a palanquin, but the couple hardly noticed.

They took tea together in his study when they got back. It was becoming tradition to end the day with a pot of tea as the sun set, and talk over the day together.

But most nights, tea and talk turned to other things, and sometimes they didn't stay totally clothed. Such was the case that evening, and when eager hands had opened her tunic and disposed of her pants, and Zuko was shirtless and gasping through their kisses, he surprised her by leaving her mouth and trailing kisses down her neck and across her chest and over the bindings they hadn't gotten around to removing, and down further still over her stomach. When she realized what he was doing, she gasped and trembled, but his kisses felt like rain after drought, like the first dawn after the long, sunless winters back home, and she barely managed to whisper, "Zuko… I…"

He looked up at her through eyes hazy with pleasure and desire and inquiry. "Do you want me to stop?" he rasped.

"No, but…."

"Then should I keep going?" he asked, lowering his mouth almost all the way to her stomach, just above her navel. The heat of his breath made her shiver.

"Yes," she sighed, and his kisses continued where they'd stopped off, and continued down, down… They hadn't ever gone so far before, kept kisses north of the collarbone, even if hands had covered much more ground, and she hadn't thought to relate this little bit of trivia to her boyfriend until suddenly it was all too relevant. But she figured it didn't really matter, and she would do anything to make him keep going, and he seemed all too happy to do it, so…

So he went down on her, inexpertly but thoroughly and willingly, and she was shaking and gasping and moaning his name when the waves of pleasure finally let her down. One hand was clutched into a cushion by her head, the other fisted in Zuko's hair, and one of her legs had ended up slung over his shoulder. He grinned up at her, and began the languid process of kissing his way back up to her throat. His body was hot and heavy on top of hers, and through his pants his erection hard but undemanding against the inside of her thigh. Oh yes, she would like that very much when they got around to it, she could already tell.

He nosed at her neck and mumbled, "What were you saying, before?"

She laughed, a little breathlessly. "Oh, just, uh… Back home in the Tribe, what you just did is called 'husband's honor'."

He stared at her a second, then laughed. "Well, I'll do anything for honor, as we know. And as for the husband part…. we'll just have to see how things go, won't we?"

She grinned.

6 - Power Couple

The three ships were making good time over the Mo Ce Sea, returning from Republic City to the Fire Nation, when a massive storm swept up and began to pummel them with rain and massive waves. The flagship carried Fire Lord Zuko, Lady Katara, and Crown Princess Hira, not even a year old yet and screaming fit to rival the wind. "What's going on!" the Fire Lord demanded of the Captain, stumbling into the bridge as the deck pitched and swayed. "It's not supposed to be the season for this!"

"I know, my Lord!" the woman shouted back, wrestling with the wheel. "We had almost no warning! We can only hope it blows itself out soon!"

But it didn't. It went on for hours, the storm throwing the ships around like toys until Lady Katara, perhaps desiring to calm her baby, who hadn't stopped crying the whole time, suddenly stood up, strode amazingly steadily out into the driving rain and took a bending stance on the slick metal deck. She began a slow kata, stepping swiftly and gracefully from motion to motion, arms seeming to caress the air as she moved. At first the confused onlookers couldn't tell what she was doing. But then one by one they began to notice that the waters around the ships were calming, and the rain seemed gentler. Lady Katara was taking on the whole monsoon, and she was winning. The crews of all three ships were breathless with awe. They knew their Lady was impressive, of course, but that impressive?

Close to an hour passed in this manner, the Waterbender soothing the violent seas so the ships could pass unharmed. The rain continued hammering them, but this was didn't even seem to notice. The only change that came over her in that whole time was that she smiled when she heard her daughter stop crying.

It seemed things would continue that way till the storm blew out, or they got to the edge of it, but then the lightning began. As though sensing a disturbance in the natural order of the storm, it seemed to focus on the ships, cracking down on the water all around them. One struck one of the accompanying ships, and sailors cried out in fear as the ship slowed, smoking even in spite of the rain. And Lord Zuko, having hastily given his daughter to a nurse, raced to the top of the flagship's tower and searched the skies for signs of the next bolt of pure energy. And it came, arcing down directly towards him—the Captain shouted from the bridge—the world was blasted bright and raw—and Lord Zuko took the lightning into his body and sent it back out again, sending it crackling and rumbling up again into the sky.

The world was breathless and amazed. In the bridge, the Captain had to consciously remember to close her mouth. Lady Katara kept bending, though the two undamaged ships slowed to tend their injured fellow. The storm blew over not all that long after, and repairs could begin properly. They arrived back to port a couple days late, and the Lord and Lady both took an extra day to rest before returning to their duties. But by then they were already being whispered of in tones of wonder among the sailors, and legends were beginning to grow outwards from the port of the royal couple and their incredible command of their elements.

7 - Soulmates

Timao hesitantly approached his father where he meditated on the pavilion. He didn't want to interrupt, so he didn't speak, just knelt down a little way behind him and sat quietly in the swelling dawn.

"You've always done this, you know," his dad eventually said, stirring from his seat and turning to Timao with a small smile.

"Done what?" Timao asked, surprised and discomfited.

"Come up and sat by me quietly when there was something you wanted to talk about."

Timao ducked his head, fighting a blush. It was no use denying it: now that his father had articulated it, a myriad of remembered examples crowded his mind.

"So what's the matter?" his dad prompted, not unkindly. If there was one thing Timao appreciated about his father, it was that he was never impatient with him or Hira or the twins.

And that gave him the nerve to say, "Dad, do you think you and Mom are soulmates?"

His father blinked at him, his surprise a bit distorted, as with every other expression, by the scar he had eventually denied Mom her offer to heal. "Soulmates? I don't know… Personally I don't if I believe in soulmates. Why?"

Now Timao did blush. "You and Mom just seem so… matched? Even when you've argued, I never thought it meant you didn't love each other. Were you always like that?"

"Well," his dad said wryly. "We did start out as enemies."

"I know, I know, but after that, when you were together."

The smile stayed on his dad's face, but some of the levity left it. "Once we were together… I knew that even when we disagreed, our relationship was still the most important thing. I love her, and she loves me, and that let us collaborate through our problems, even when they were serious. I think saying love like that comes from being 'soulmates' sort of cheapens that work. But you still haven't told me why you want to know."

He would have blushed again, but his dad was taking him seriously now, and he really did want to sort through his feelings like a rational person. "It's… ever since we came back from the trip to Republic City a couple months ago… It's… Lin's a few years younger than me, you know?"

"Lin? Toph and Aang's Lin?"

"Yeah."

"You were… four when she was born, right? So she'd be nineteen now?"

"Yeah. We're not together or anything, but we talked a lot while we were there, and she's doing so much incredible stuff with Aunt Toph, and I just really admire her, and… I don't know, it's weird because we were practically raised as cousins even if we didn't see each other that often so I don't know if she'd ever consider..."

"I see," his dad said, voice warm with understanding.

"And it's hard because I look at you and Mom," Timao burst out, "and Hira and I were already born when you were my age, and you were the Fire Lord and you had ended the War and all this stuff, and I'm just here… I'm a fair Waterbender, sure, but I'm twenty-three already and I haven't done anything… I can't even find love right…"

"Timao, listen. I'm going to tell you something your Grandpa Iroh had to tell me a thousand times before it stuck in my head. Destiny is a funny thing, he said, over and over and over. And I'll add, it's different for everyone. There is no 'right' way. If you hope your destiny holds a soulmate and feats that become legend, I hope that for you too. But no matter what, I'm already proud of you, and that will always be true."

"Thanks, Dad," Timao whispered, touched by this unexpected show of faith.

They shared a little silence in the young morning air, until his dad said, "Have you written Lin a letter since we came back from Republic City?"

Timao stiffened, alarmed. "No way! What would I say?"

His dad was grinning again. "I bet we can figure something out. Come on, let's go find some paper."

8 - Agni Kai

The histories of Fire Lord Zuko's reign tell us he fought three Agni Kais. First for his honor, next for his throne, and last for his love. The first he lost, the second he and his future wife won together, and the last he won alone. The first two left him scarred irrevocably, and people said he was saved from injury in the last because it was fought for his family, not against them.

The early years of Lord Zuko's reign were not easy or smooth. Many of his citizens wished for the return of Lord Ozai or even preferred Princess Azula, and they eagerly opposed all the measures he worked to put in place to heal the damage done by the Fire Nation over the course of the War. And when he announced that he and Master Katara of the Southern Water Tribe were to wed, the fervor grew a hundredfold worse. And a champion of these malcontents rose up and declared a challenge to the Fire Lord and said that if Zuko lost the Agni Kai, then the challenger would win his throne, and wed the Princess, and the Fire Nation would return to its rightful destiny and never be ruled by mongrel mixed-breeds.

Of course everyone knows how it ended. Lord Zuko won the duel, married Master Katara, and ruled for thirty years until he stepped down to make way for his daughter. He and Katara built a golden age for his Nation and the world, and that is why we remember them still.

9 - Partners in Crime

The twins were a surprise addition to the family, arriving when Hira was already fifteen, and Timao thirteen. There was some anxiety before they were born, because if one of them was a Firebender, especially a male, that could complicate Hira's anticipated assumption of the throne after Zuko. Fortunately (in that aspect, anyway) they were both girls, and they were named Omika and Zayla. Omika turned out to be a Waterbender like her mother and brother, but Zayla didn't bend and eventually picked up numerous other kinds of martial arts instead. Later in life she became a renowned poet, while Omika headed up the Fire Nation Medical Research Society.

But when they were young, they were rapscallions. As soon as they could stand on their feet reliably, they were running all around the Palace and grounds, shrieking and giggling and pulling little pranks. The servants were dismayed, since Hira and Timao had both been very well behaved as children. Hira and Timao were alternately annoyed and amused, depending on if they were the subject of whatever prank the twins were pulling off. Zuko and Katara loved them unreservedly, as they had with the older two.

The differences between the twins bothered them not at all. They were best of friends for their whole childhoods, getting up to all kinds of shenanigans and winning over even the most disapproving servants with their limpid-eyed (and insincere) apologies for their tricks. They were beloved despite—or almost because of—the trouble they caused, the most perfect little partners in crime.

10 - Fake Dating

Katara liked visiting Republic City, but mainly because two of her best friends had ended up living there. And this was her first visit with them since Hira was born, and Sokka and Suki were coming with Tuluk as well, so it was going to be a proper reunion. And everything was wonderful, up until they all had to make the first of their several public appearances as a group. Things were still fine then, but she was confused, because Toph and Aang were suddenly holding hands as they waved to the crowds. They hadn't acted any different from normal when it was just their group: so why the change? She managed to keep her questions to herself until they all got back inside, but then she wasted no time in pulling Toph aside and whispering, "What the heck was that all about?"

"What was what?" Toph asked blankly.

"You and Aang! Holding hands!"

"Oh! Have you not heard? I assumed he would have told you in a letter or something. Some of the Acolytes have been getting pushy about him being single, so we're pretending to date to get them off his case."

"Ooh…"

"Yeah. Don't worry, we're not gonna fall in love or whatever."

"I wasn't thinking that," she said, except all of a sudden she was.

And the two weeks of their stay made her think it more and more and more. There was nothing overt. There was no blushing or giggling or unnecessary touching between the two of them. But Katara kept noticing a certain kind of comfort in their interactions, a certain knowingness in their smiles, a certain… something in the air around them, even if they both seemed oblivious to it. When she mentioned it to Suki, her sister-in-law agreed.

On the last night of their visit, they all stayed up late on Air Temple Island's pavilion, drinking tea or sake, and Katara asked Toph about the situation again. Toph had had a few drinks by then, and Katara hoped it would make her a little more pliant, but no such luck. "I'm just doing it as a favor to make the Acolytes leave him alone," she declared firmly, though quietly, as there were a few of the young ladies in question mingling with the party as well.

"Alright," Katara said, lifting her hands in surrender. "I'm just saying, you'd be cute together."

"That's because we're both cute to begin with," Toph said, grinning.

Katara laughed, and watched as Toph meandered back towards the snacks and then over towards Aang and Sokka, and plopped down across Aang's lap. Aang grinned at her, and she seemed to ask what they were talking about, and the conversation went on. But Katara saw how Toph's arm went so naturally around Aang's shoulders ("For balance," she would surely say) and how casually Aang let his hand rest on Toph's knee ("What's wrong with that?" he would surely ask) and how their proximity got smaller and smaller until Toph was drooped all over Aang's shoulder, sound asleep. And she saw how Aang smiled at her and tucked her more snuggly against him so she wouldn't fall off, and eventually leaned his cheek on her head as he went on talking to Sokka.

And later on, as she and Zuko were getting ready for bed (he slightly tipsily, as he didn't have to worry about nursing Hira), she whispered and giggled to him all her observations and suspicions and hopes. "If they're not together by next year, I'm going to have to intervene somehow. There's only so dense two people can be."

Zuko laughed and kissed her, and they went to bed, baby Hira asleep between them.

11 - Dragon

When Katara was young and thought about the future, one thing she never thought she would see was her eight year old daughter (who happened to be a Firebender) riding on the shoulders of her husband (who happened to be the Fire Lord), who ran all over the courtyard while the girl shouted, "Momma, Momma, look, Daddy's a dragon! Look at us fly!"

And yet here she was.

12 - Balance

Katara had never felt so old. She was aware of her age, had felt it growing in her stiff bones and weakening eyesight and and the development of her grandchildren. But Aang's death made her feel old.

Zuko was a better comfort even than usual, though he felt the loss of one of their best friends just as keenly as she did. He'd always been stoic in grief, and it was a relief to sob into his chest and be held so safe and warm. "He was twelve," she eventually managed, wiping her face. "When we found him in that iceberg, he was only twelve… We practically raised him…. We were all so young, Zuko, I can't even imagine anymore… and we ended the War and it seemed that with peace, things would go on forever… that we would all be together forever… Why did he have to go?" A hopeless question, she'd known that practically her whole life, but the pain of each new loss made her ask again. "He was the youngest of us, and now he's the first to go…"

"It's no one's destiny to live forever," Zuko said with gentle sadness. "And at least we know Aang will be reborn. Well, not Aang, but the new Avatar."

"Yes," Katara breathed, awed at the idea. "What a different world this Avatar has been born into. And from the Water Tribes this time…" For some reason that had her in tears all over again.

"And we'll help him or her the same way we helped Aang," Zuko said firmly, rubbing small, warm circles into her back. "They're already born to a world in much better balance than Aang, but we'll do everything we can."

"Yes," Katara sniffed. "Yes, everything we can do for balance in the world."

13 - Folktale

When Hira was nineteen, she went on a trip through the Fire Nation, traveling with only a couple companions and guards, getting to know the people she would rule someday and getting some perspective on what they valued. She learned a lot in those months, and when she got back to the Capital, she was thoughtful and quiet, though obviously happy to see her family again. They didn't press her, accepting that she would have a lot to process as she got used to being home again.

But a couple of days after her return, when the family was at dinner, she suddenly looked up and asked, "Mom, before the War ended, you and Uncle Sokka and Uncle Aang and Aunt Toph all traveled in the Fire Nation, right?"

Katara blinked. "Yes?"

"Did you go to a village called Jang Hui?"

"Is that the little floating fishing village? Yes, we did, why?"

"And did you pretend to be the Painted Lady while you were there?"

"Woah, really?" Timao exclaimed. "Mom, scandalous!"

The twins demanded to know why it was scandalous (still only 5, they weren't in the loop about more risque mythology yet), and Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose while Katara spluttered and protested that she'd been ignorant of the Painted Lady's full legend when she briefly took her identity. Hira just smirked.

14 - Dao Swords

Zuko stood on the balcony overlooking the training yard, watching Zayla practice her dao sword forms. She was lithe and agile and Master Piandao was clearly working quite hard to challenge her. The twins' sixteenth birthday was this year and Zuko was considering gifting Zayla his old set from his Blue Spirit days.

Zuko felt Katara approach from behind him and slip her arms around his waist. "She's amazing," she murmured into his shoulder.

"All of our kids are amazing," Zuko said, almost choking on his pride. Four beautiful children, raised in a time of peace, with the most incredible woman in the world.

"Yeah, they are," Katara agreed warmly, and something in her voice snagged Zuko's attention.

"...You're not about to tell me you're pregnant again, are you? Hira was almost sixteen when the twins showed up. Is that going to be a pattern?" Katara laughed, and he relaxed. Another child would have been a more than welcome addition, but he also thought he was too old to have a new baby.

Down in the training yard, Zayla and Piandow were bowing to each other, and Zayla raced off. "Were we ever so energetic?" Katara asked dryly.

Zuko chuckled. "I'm thinking of giving her my old dao swords," he said.

"I think she'd really love that," Katara agreed, and hugged him tighter.

15 - Scars

Twenty-five years after the end of the War, Katara was traveling with Sokka and Suki in the southern end of the United Republic. They'd been discussing their kids as they rode, the six cousins who were hanging out with Dad/Uncle Zuko in Republic City with Aunt Toph and Uncle Aang, when Sokka suddenly spoke up. "Hey Katara, do you recognize where we are?"

Katara looked around curiously. It was lush, forested land, mountainous but low elevation. It looked a lot like a lot of other places on the United Republic/Earth Kingdom coast. She said so, and Sokka looked disappointed.

"Come on, really?" Katara shrugged. "It's Hei Bai's forest! Where I got taken into the Spirit World, remember?"

"Oh yeah!" Katara exclaimed, while Suki said, "Wow, really?" and looked around with more interest. "That was such a crazy time," Katara said, nostalgic and wry.

"That whole year was a crazy time," Sokka said.

"I think our whole lives might be a crazy time," Suki said, grinning.

"What else has been as crazy as the time we ended the whole War?" Sokka demanded.

"In case you haven't noticed, your sister is married to the Fire Lord?" Suki reminded him.

Katara snorted as her brother and his wife bantered back and forth. She was still looking at the landscape around them. When they'd first been there twenty-five years ago, so soon after the Fire Nation had burned that huge swath of forest to the ground, it had seemed that it would never recover. The blackened stumps and ankle-deep ash had seened permanent. The trees all around them now were as unlikely as they were beautiful. She was relieved and happy that the scars of the War were healing so well. There were whole generations of children being born with no memory of it, and many of the problems the world had been grappling with since then were starting to fade as well. Yes, with the scars of the War healing as they were, the world had much to look forward to.

16 - Intimacy

The morning that Hira was born was the most surreal of Zuko's life. Katara had laboured for fourteen hours, and their daughter had entered the world mere minutes before dawn. She was tiny and wrinkled and perfect, and her scream of outrage as she came out declared her strong and healthy. Katara sobbed as she was placed on her chest, and there were tears on Zuko's face too. The midwives fussed and clucked and eventually withdrew to give the new little family some space.

Zuko thought he had had some important milestones in his life: he had been crowned Fire Lord when he was sixteen. He had married Katara two years after that. But now he was a father, and he realized that that simple fact wiped out everything else.

"You should hold her," Katara murmured, not taking her eyes from the tiny face.

"Okay," he agreed nervously. He had never held a baby before, and didn't feel confident that he would be good at it. But Katara showed him how, and when the sleeping infant didn't start screaming in protest, he thought maybe he was doing alright. "...We have a daughter," he whispered, almost reverently.

"I know," Katara said happily, and at that exact moment, the sun crested the horizon and filled the room with gentle light. "And I hope you don't mind that she's all you'll be getting from me for your birthday."

He laughed thickly. "I'm so happy," he said, swallowing down more tears. He carefully leaned in and kissed her. "I'm so happy…"

17 - Eclipse

The second solar eclipse that Katara saw came in her fiftieth year. She was in the Fire Nation Capital for it again, but otherwise nothing was the same about the situation. For one thing, she was co-ruler of the Nation now, and for another thing the War was long-over, and for a third thing, the day was spent mostly in meditation and chants led by the Fire Sages. She and Zuko led a chant with the head Fire Sage and Hira in the central courtyard, surrounded by somber Fire Nation citizens. Some children cried in fear of the strange darkness, and some Firebenders had panic attacks at the loss of their abilities, but in the end everyone came through safely. And then for the afternoon and evening there was a great celebration, with bending demonstrations and fireworks and so much food that there would be leftovers for days afterwards. She and Zuko made appearances everywhere they had to for propriety, but they retreated back to their chambers before the night was too far gone.

They moved quietly around each other as they prepared for bed, long, long practice making their motions seamless and smooth. And they held another in bed, watching the fireworks flare in the distance.

"Another eclipse," Zuko finally murmured into her greying hair.

"Doesn't the other one feel like another life?" Katara sighed.

"It does. Back then, I never dreamed that this is where my life would take me. It still doesn't feel real sometimes."

"I know what you mean. But I'm glad this is where we are. I can't imagine a life where I'm happier."

He hugged her close, and she reciprocated. "Me neither."

18 - Caught Undressed

Timao jerked away out of a nightmare, petrified in the near-darkness of his bedroom. The door had been left cracked and light fell in a thin stream across the floor, but the rest of the room was still shadowy and dangerous, and he whimpered and scuttled out of bed like a scared little crab. Mommy and Daddy's room was just down the hall, and he had just recently grown tall enough to pull on the ornate handle himself.

He did, and opened the door, beginning to call out to his parents, but what he saw confused him into silence. Mommy and Daddy were on their bed, but they had no clothes on, and they were pushing on each other with their bodies and their legs were all tangled together. They both saw Timao almost as soon as he came in, and shouted "Spirits!" and "Timao!" and scrambled for clothes.

Confused and unnerved, Timao stood still while Mommy hurried over to him, belting her dressing gown as she came. "Honey, what's the matter?" she asked, kneeling down by him.

"What were you doing?" Timao asked.

For some reason, Mommy blushed. "Uh… that's a thing that grown ups do to, uh, make babies."

"Are you gonna have another baby?" Timao demanded excitedly. He didn't like being the youngest: he wanted a little brother!

"Uhh…" Mommy glanced over her shoulder and Timao saw Daddy was having some kind of trouble making his pants fit. "Not this time, honey. Sometimes it's just a thing grown ups do for fun."

"Oh."

"Sorry, honey. But what did you need when you came in?"

Remembering the nightmare that had brought him to his parents' room in the first place, Timao started to whimper and cry. "I had a bad dream!" Mommy cooed and comforted him, and he forgot his confusion from earlier.

Once Timao was back in bed and sleeping, Katara returned to her and Zuko's bedroom. Her husband was sprawled across the bed, one of his arms flung over his eyes. He hadn't gotten a shirt on, and there was still a very noticeable, stubborn bulge in his pants. Katara smirked. "Something I can help you with?" she asked.

Zuko groaned, lifting his arm from his eyes. "I never wanted to have that happen."

She giggled. "Me neither. But it's over now." She let the dressing gown slip from her shoulders to the floor, and his eyes widened a little. Her smile turned sly as she got back on the bed and crawled over to him. "Well, husband? Shall we pick up where we left off?"

His breath caught a bit as her fingers trailed over his waistband. "The mood was pretty thoroughly broken… we'll have to work pretty hard to get back to where we were..."

"I think we can manage," Katara laughed, eagerly pulling his pants open and straddling him.

19 - Avatara

[I have a WIP on this premise so I'm gonna hold off. Also the Avatar Katara premise doesn't work for the continuity I'm going with, lol]

20 - Fairytale

Hira never felt especially comfortable as a mother. Her two sons were brilliant, happy, kind boys, and she loved them with all of her heart, but with her own mother as the ideal to measure up against, she always felt she came up short.

On a family vacation to Ember Island when the boys were six and nine, Hira reclined in the shade, watching her dad swim with his grandsons. There were plans being made for him to step down as Fire Lord on their next shared birthday, when he would be fifty and she would be thirty. This vacation was their last chance to relax for a very long time. And she couldn't even get out of her head and enjoy herself.

Movement beside her made her look up, and she saw her mom settling into the seat beside her, also smiling towards the boys and their grandpa. "It's amazing how alike they look," she said. "Especially Iroh."

"Yes," Hira managed to agree. Her self-doubt sometimes made it difficult for her to talk to her mom about her sons, fearing that somehow she would be outdone even in that capacity.

Her mom was silent for a while, and Hira felt her scrutiny with rising embarrassment and anger. "Honey, can I tell you a story?" her mom eventually said. Hira startled a little at the endearment. As she had grown older and taken more and more of a public role in Fire Nation affairs, there had had to be a corresponding degree of formality between her and her parents, and even in private, little nicknames had become sparse. But she nodded, and her mom nodded back and turned to look out at the water. When Hira was little, she had wanted to look more like her mom. She'd gotten her dad's features almost exactly, save for the slight darkness of her skin compared to him. She had thought it made her look less pretty, to have black hair and gold eyes, because Mom was the prettiest person she knew and Mom had brown hair and blue eyes. It didn't help that Timao got those attributes instead. But then she was speaking, and Hira turned her attention to that. "There's a legend back in the South Pole of a cormorant-gull who was very proud of her family. Her babies flew well and hunted well, and were strong and fat and healthy as they grew. But her friend the leopard-seal had babies as well, and she taught them to swim and to fish and to sing different songs than the cormorant-gull taught her babies. And she started to think that she wasn't doing a very good job because her babies couldn't swim or fish or sing those songs. She didn't understand that cormorant-gull babies and leopard-seal babies need to be taught different things and raised different ways, and that she was doing a perfect job for a cormorant-gull mother."

Hira was staring at her, tears caught harshly in her throat. "You knew?" she asked raspily.

"Of course I knew, sweetheart," her mom said, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"But—but that can't be true, can it? Aren't we both cormorant-gulls? I don't understand." She realized there were tears on her face, and wiped at them roughly.

Her mother caught her hand and pulled her so they were facing each other. "My dear Hira," she said. "We are different women with different children, raising them in very different worlds. You are doing a wonderful job with your boys, and I couldn't be prouder of you." She gently brushed her thumbs over Hira's cheeks, clearing them of tears. "My love, you are brilliant. Next year you will be Fire Lord, and I know you will be spectacular. Your boys are good people, and they love you as much as you love them. You believe that much, at least?"

"Yes," Hira whispered.

"Then all the rest will follow. Motherhood is forever, so you will always love them, and I will always love you and them, and my mother will always love all of us, wherever she is watching from." Her eyes turned soft and sad when she said this, and suddenly Hira realized that her mother, whom she had always worshipped as perfect, had her own impossible image to live up to, and surely had had her fair share of doubts about her abilities as she and Timao and now the twins were growing up. Perhaps she had had to tell herself the story of the cormorant-gull and the leopard-seal once upon a time? She felt a sympathy and connection to her mom that she never had before, and reached out and embraced her fiercely.

"Thank you, Mom," she whispered.

21 - Aurora Borealis

Zayla stood on the dock all wrapped in her furs as the ship came in, and waited patiently as all the lines were tied properly and the gangplank dropped. If Omika were coming one her own, Zayla knew she would have gotten herself ashore with her bending, but she was coming with her whole collection of children, so that wouldn't have been practical. But once the gangplank was down, they all poured off the ship, her sister and all six of her nieces and nephews, and the greetings were happy chaos for a very long time.

Some of her sister's youngest kids had been so young the last time they came to the South Pole that they didn't even remember it, and were awed and giddy, which pleased Zayla. She let her daughter and son, Ilah and Hakoda, make friends anew with their cousins, and give all the explanations they were asked for. She walked behind the gaggle of them all with Omika and they exchanged news about their homes, and whatever family members they had seen or heard from. Omika brought word that their parents were well, and Hira, and her husband and sons. Zayla had had a letter from Timao the week before, and he and Lin and Jade were all thriving in Republic City. Omika's medical center was growing by the day and healers from all over the world came to learn there. Zayla was finishing another volume of poetry.

The visit was great fun, but Zayla was an introvert, and pretty soon she needed a break from the boisterous noise of her visitors, and took herself outside to the star-lit, packed snow yard. It was autumn, so the days and nights were roughly equal length, and the sun had just recently sunk beneath the horizon.

She sank gratefully into a smooth kata, something she had adapted from her dao sword training combined with watching the motion of Waterbenders like Mom, Timao, Omika, and others she met once she moved to the Tribe. The movements were soothing and slow, and the cold quiet of the air left her mind free to form their own patterns, away from the babble and conversation of family, much though they were loved.

The sensation of being watched brought her eventually out of her meditation, and she lifted her eyes and saw her second-youngest nephew, Yune, squatting by the wall of the house, examining her. She just looked at him, not prepared for having to talk to someone. Eventually, he asked, "What were you doing?"

"Practicing," she said, the easiest of the answers she could give.

"But you're not a bender," he said.

"No, I'm not," she agreed, trying to remember what kind of bender Yune was. Firebender? Waterbender? Omika's gaggle were a mixed bunch, just like their mother and aunts and uncle. "But bending is just an expression of the body's chi moving around. The difference between me and a bender is that their chi can relate to elements outside of their bodies and mine doesn't. But it's still good and healthy for it to move around inside me."

Yune watched her carefully. "Is that the only reason?" he asked.

Zayla hesitated. "It's one of the reasons," she admitted. He was shrewd, this nephew of hers. "The other part is… well, it feels like I'm dancing with the whole world, when I do it right." It felt a little foolish to speak like that to a child—how old was he, seven? eight?—but nothing else would have felt like the truth.

"That sounds… nice," Yune said, and if he hadn't been so soft and gentle, she would have accused him of sarcasm. Instead, she looked at him a little more closely, and wondered that he had come outside to the unfamiliar cold to watch her rather than stayed in with his loving, loud family.

"Would you like to learn?" she asked after a little hesitation.

His eyes widened a little. "Yes please!"

She smiled and he scampered over the snow to join her. She showed him one of the basic stances, and the gentle, swaying steps that came after. He was good, but clearly didn't have the sort of ease that would have come from bending training. And all at once, she remembered: Yune was her sister's only non-bender child. She had lost track of which was which over the years, with all the various relatives to remember. Hira's sons were only a few years younger than her and Zayla, and both of them had children now, and Timao had Jade and now Jade was pregnant, and she had her own kids and Omika had had six for the Spirits' sake, and not to mention Tuluk and Suda's families, and Suyin and all the Airbenders. And here was young Yune, the only non-bender of his siblings, just as she had been. And he loved the moves she taught him, even in the scarce few minutes. He was grinning up at her, and he said, "I feel it, I feel it! We're dancing with the whole world!" And just as he spoke, the southern lights burst to life in the sky, and Zayla caught her breath at the beauty and ferocity of the display. There were exclamations from the house and she knew soon they would be overrun by admiring family members, so she leaned in close and quickly whispered, "Yes, and even though we're not benders, sometimes the world dances with us too."

22 - Blood Moon

Waterbending practice with Mom was a rare pleasure these days, and Omika put off ruining it as long as she could. Now that Hira was Fire Lord, Mom and Dad traveled a lot, visiting other nations and regions and doing what work they could to help the people there. But they had come for her and Zayla's twentieth birthday, and to see Hira and her boys, now fifteen and twelve. It was strange when she realized that she was closer to her nephews' ages than her sister's, but sometimes that's how life went.

As ever, she couldn't help but admire Mom's grace and proficiency with her element. Timao had gotten more of that than Omika, who had always been drawn to healing more than the martial forms of the art, but she still found it beautiful, and maintained her practice diligently.

"You've been working hard," Mom said when they finished their cool-down exercises.

Omika smiled with pleasure at the compliment. She had been practicing more in anticipation of these sessions, and was glad it showed. Hopefully it would make Mom more open to the question Omika wanted to ask.

They moved to the side of the practice yard together, and sat and drank some mango juice. The quiet company would have been lovely if Omika weren't itching with nerves. Eventually, Mom gave a quiet laugh and said, "What is it, honey?"

Omika smiled, a bit chagrined. She should have known better than to try and hide her mood from Mom. "I… was wondering something. But I don't think you'll want to talk about it."

"Oh?"

"It's, um… I heard recently about some stuff that happened when you and Uncle Sokka and Aunt Toph and Uncle Aang were all traveling in the Fire Nation, before the War ended, and…"

"This isn't about the Painted Lady thing, is it?" Mom interrupted wryly.

Omika snorted in spite of her nerves. "No, not that. No, it was, um, about a different kind of bending, and a woman named Hama…?"

Mom was silent, and Omika glanced over at her through her lashes. She was sitting as though caught in something, eyes glazed and staring into the middle distance. "What about her?" she finally said quietly.

"I heard what she was doing, to the people in that town. It's horrifying even to hear about. Controlling a person's whole body like that… and she made you learn it, right?"

"Yes," she replied, even more softly than before. "To save your uncles, I had to bloodbend her."

"I'm sorry," Okima said, bowing her head. She had known this would be a difficult conversation, and she wanted to show that she respected Mom's painful history with this ability. But she also felt compelled to ask, "...But you never tried to use it again after that? Even for a different purpose?"

"What other purpose could there be?" Mom asked, almost harshly.

Omika bit her lip. "Healing?" she offered tentatively. Mom was silent, and so after a moment, she went on. "Imagine, you could staunch a wound so that you didn't have to rush the healing to prevent blood loss, or clear a blockage in a vein, or any number of things! If I could learn—"

"I don't think that would be wise," Mom interrupted, standing abruptly. "Abusing the ability would be too easy." Omika felt stricken, and Mom seemed to see that, because she put her hand to Omika's cheek and said, "I'm sorry. I don't necessarily mean you. But others would be less scrupulous. I can't allow this knowledge to get out."

Omika bowed her head in unhappy acceptance, and Mom went out of the practice yard.

But a week later, when Mom and Dad were due to leave for Ba Sing Se, Mom came and found her in her study after breakfast and said, "I'll teach you. At the next full moon, you'll practice, but only on me. Don't make me regret this, Omika."

Omika had gone ramrod-straight at Mom's first words. "I won't. I promise, I won't."

Mom nodded, her blue eyes troubled, and went out again.

Omika had never felt such a combination of excitement and terror.

23 - After the Rain

The birth of Hira's second son had not been easy for her or the baby, and in the months of their recovery, Zuko took a greater hand in caring for her older son, Iroh. Hira's husband and Katara tended to be more helpful to Hira and the new baby, who was eventually named Eikichi, since he was so lucky to survive his birth. Zuko and the almost-four-year-old Iroh were often left to their own devices. Sometimes this meant that Zuko brought his grandson to official meetings, accompanied by a nervous maid bearing a little box of toys and blocks. Sometimes it meant Zuko making shapes with his Firebending, to little Iroh's amazement and glee. And only once, it meant Iroh came crying to his grandfather's side in the middle of the night in the beginning of the wet season, when the rain thrashed down and thunder shook the whole island, it seemed.

Iroh wasn't a fearful child, and he had never had trouble with storms before, so Zuko knew that his fear wasn't really about the thunder and lightning. So he quietly got up, gathered the sobbing boy into his arms, and walked with him through the Palace.

"Listen," he murmured as he walked, and the noise of the storm faded as they got further from any windows and exterior walls. Iroh's weeping quieted as well, and he was limp against Zuko's shoulder. Of all things about his and Katara's children being young, this was one of the ones he missed the most, the feeling of utter trust transmitted in the boneless feeling of relaxation. That feeling had been incredible when Zuko first encountered it, and he loved it still. "Listen," he murmured to his grandson. "Storms can seem very scary. They make the outside dark, and thunder feels like the end of the world, doesn't it?" Iroh's face was damp on Zuko's shoulder, and his breathing was occasionally interrupted by hiccups. But he was calm, and he was listening. "But storms are welcome here," he said. "Do you want to know why?"

"Yes," Iroh whispered.

"Because I, and your momma and daddy and you, are all part of the Fire Nation. I, and your momma and daddy are Firebenders, and you might be too. But your Gran-Gran and momma and you are also part of the Water Tribe. Gran-Gran is a Waterbender, and so are your Uncle Timao and Aunt Omika, and you might be too. The storm outside is proof that the elements are stronger when they mix together, just like our family. So I know it's dark and loud, but it's not something to be scared of."

"We're strong?" Iroh asked softly.

"Too strong for a storm to get us," Zuko agreed, remembering more than twenty years ago, a return trip from Republic City when Hira was just a year old when he and Katara had had to tame a storm to save their ships, their daughter, and themselves. "Much too strong."

Iroh breathed quietly again for a little while. Then he lifted his head up and looked Zuko in the face. "Can we go see it?" he said.

Zuko smiled. "We sure can."

24 - You're in love with her

After all the hubbub of the public celebration for Aang, Toph, Sokka, and Suki's arrival, Katara was glad that the afternoon was proving so relaxing. Well, Toph and Zuko were sparring energetically in one of the lower courtyards, true, but Sokka and Suki were playing chase with three-year old Hira and four-year-old Tuluk, along with Momo, and she and Aang were relaxing in the shade with some fruit juice while Timao napped in her lap. They chatted about unimportant things, knowing that serious matters would be handled later in the visit and unwilling to broach them so soon.

"Do you think you'll want more kids after Timao?" Aang asked, sipping his drink.

"Mm… maybe someday. But Zuko and I both grew up in pairs of siblings, so in some ways this feels like a good balance for us."

"Hopefully they turn out more like you and Sokka than Zuko and Azula, huh?"

She chuckled, horrified. "Hopefully, yes. But what about you? You and Toph are still 'dating', right? The Acolytes aren't bothering you anymore?" Despite her declaration to Zuko that she would have to intervene if Toph and Aang weren't together within a year of their visit to Republic City when Hira was a baby, she had refrained. Some couples had to realize things in their own time, Zuko had reasoned. Even if that time was very long and frustrating for their friends.

"Well…" He shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, we are, but…"

"But?" she prompted, trying to stem her eagerness. Was this it? Was this finally the moment?

"I've started to feel sort of guilty about it," he said, face reddening a little.

"Guilty?" she repeated, heart sinking. "For tricking the Acolytes?"

"No, not that. Though… well, that's not a good thing to do either. But I meant about Toph." He got a little redder.

"What about her?" she asked carefully.

"I mean, she's been doing this, for years now, for my sake, but what if she wants to be with someone for real? She's so cool, and she's really smart and an incredible Earthbender, you know that, and she's really pretty and…" He trailed off, face redder than ever. Katara looked at him, working hard to hide her glee. "If she really wanted to be with someone else, it's not fair of me to ask her to stay as my pretend girlfriend so that the Acolytes will leave me alone, is it?"

"Has she said anything to make you think that's what she wants?"

"Well, no, but…"

"What about you?" she asked, changing tacks slightly. "What about a real relationship for you? What do you want?"

"I want…" He looked off into the distance, roughly in the direction where the occasional flash of fire and rumble of Earthbending indicated Toph and Zuko were still sparring. His face was so wistful and open that Katara almost felt embarrassed to look at him. "I want it to be real," he murmured at last. "I don't want it to be pretend anymore."

Happiness and warmth filled her chest. "You're in love with her," she said simply.

Aang glanced at her, gray eyes alarmed. "I didn't say that!"

"Aang," she said patiently. "It's okay."

He relaxed, a little. "She's just…. We get along really well, and she always makes me think about why I'm doing what I'm doing, and my Earthbending is getting really good… I think it's probably becoming my best element, after Air." He smiled apologetically, and she smiled back her understanding and forgiveness. He'd always been a natural Waterbender, but without constant practice and training, it was natural for other skills to surpass it. "I… I guess I do love her." His smile was wobbly, but big. "I love her."

Katara grinned equally widely. "I'm glad."

All at once his smile turned shy. "Do you remember… after the War ended and I took you back to the South Pole, and when I was leaving I asked if you'd come with me as, as more than friends?" His face was a really bright red now, but he met her gaze evenly. She nodded, unsure of where he was going. "Thank you for saying no." She laughed, surprised and relieved. "I was hardly thirteen then, and I thought my crush on you was love. I can't imagine what would have happened if you'd said yes."

"We'd have made it work somehow," said said unconfidently.

"But it wouldn't have been as good as this," Aang said comfortably, turning to their friends playing with the kids, and the distant sounds of their respective husband and pretend-but-hopefully-soon-real-girlfriend's sparring match hitting a crescendo. A moment later, the pair in question came around the end of the wall separating the courtyard from the lawn and started walking over. Zuko bent and kissed her forehead, asking quietly about Timao and observing that Hira was having fun. Toph had gone to interrupt the game of tag, and barrelled after the two screech-laughing children, pretending to be a platypus-bear. But then she came over to the shade as well and plucked Aang's cool drink out of his hand. "And what's going on in Lazy Town?" she asked.

Katara glanced at Aang, and saw his smile spread across his face, so helplessly happy that it made her heart hurt. "I'll tell you later," he said.

Aang and Toph never technically got married, but they spent their lives together and had five kids, two Earthbending rapscallion girls, and triplet Airbenders, one of whom turned out blind like his mother, and was all the better of a bender and person for it.

25 - Forced to share a hotel room

[I really don't have anything for this prompt. Oh well!]

26 - Rainstorm

The wind was cool and smooth over their faces as they walked. The paths around the Eastern Air Temple were smooth and winding, with narrow, graceful bridges linking nearby peaks. They walked slowly, enjoying themselves and taking in the views of the plunging mountains, the clouds below and above them, the lemurs and air bison swooping and playing in the air. Katara let out a deep, contented sigh. "Some things really make you realize how far the world has come," she said happily.

"I know," Zuko agreed solemnly. "Now the Northern Temple is the only one they still have to restore."

"That'll be quite a project," Katara chuckled.

He smiled wryly. They walked on for a while, pretending they were alone, and that almost their whole family and dozens of their friends and relatives weren't back at the main Temple, celebrating this latest achievement for the Air Nomads and specifically Toph and Aang's son blind Roshi, who was taking up the role of Abbot and was establishing the community of Acolytes there. They loved all of those people, of course, and were deeply, deeply happy, but Zuko had only abdicated the throne a year ago, and since then they had somehow had even less time for themselves than they had before. So they strolled along together, not thinking about anything, not talking except to point out some particularly beautiful feature of the skyscape.

After a while they came upon a small meditation pavilion, and settled there to look out over the mountains. The Temple was small on a peak, and there were heavy gray clouds piling in the sky. "Looks like we're in for it," Katara commented. The wind shifted and pushed the clouds closer, and fat drops of rain started pattering on the pavilion's roof, and the ground around it. "Oh no," she said lightly. "I guess we're stuck here."

"The greatest Waterbender in the world, beaten by a little rain?" Zuko teased, putting an arm around her shoulders.

She nudged him, gently chastising, "Don't ruin the moment with logic."

"Then I guess we're stuck," he agreed, and kissed the side of her head as the rain surrounded and protected them.

27 - Heartbeat

The night was quiet and still, the moon a thin sliver beyond the window. Katara sat by the bed, holding Zuko's thin hand in hers. They were on Ember Island, they had been ever since the stroke, and in some ways Zuko would never leave. It had been days since then, since the afternoon when he collapsed during their after-dinner stroll on the beach. He had had periods of wakefulness, some more lucid than others. At one point he seemed to believe Katara was her Gran-Gran, and apologized over and over for what he had done to the Southern Water Tribe way back when he found Aang there. Other times he recognized her, and spoke calmly about their life and children and descendants. At first Katara had cried a great deal when he was unconscious, and tried all the varied healing techniques that she had learned over her ninety years of life. Some things helped, but nothing worked, and his strength continued to wane.

Their children had come, Hira and Omika quickly since they were only on the big island, then Timao from Republic City, and last Zayla all the way from the South Pole. Many of their grandchildren and great-grandchildren had come too, and paid their respects. The house was full and somber. Indeed, the whole of Ember Island seemed to be holding its breath. There were no fireworks, the market was subdued, no one played in the water during the day. Even the waves themselves seemed quieter, rolling slowly over the black sand. At times Katara wondered if she were unconsciously bending the waters near the house, influencing them without meaning to to in her grief.

She didn't sleep much. It was like Zuko had taken the need from her as he slept the days away, breathing almost silently. Occasionally she fed him broth or water, bending the thin stream gently into his mouth and down his throat. Sometimes one of their children would come and sit with them for a time, and they would share stories and memories, and often tears. But then they would leave again, respecting a wife's space with her husband as he passed. She denied aid from servants, even though many of them loved their Lord and sincerely wanted to help both of them. Their days and nights were undisturbed.

And so the night was quiet and still, the moon a thin sliver beyond the window. Katara held Zuko's thin hand. She wasn't thinking of anything particular.

Zuko stirred. She was attentive at once, leaning in and touching his face. The thin, delicate skin was cool and dry. "My love?" she murmured.

"Ka...tara," he mumbled. "I'm… sorry…"

"Why?" she asked, hoping he hadn't gone back to the past again, and found something she had long forgiven him for.

"I'm… leaving before… you. I'm leaving… you… alone…"

Her heart clenched. "Not for long," she soothed. "Look at me: I'm old. I'll join you soon enough. And in the mean time, there are the children. We will take good care of each other."

His lips twitched: a small smile. His hand was still in hers, his pulse feather-light under her fingers. "We… did well… didn't we?" he said. "We had… a good life…"

She thought she was dry of tears, but there were more slipping down her cheeks. "We had a perfect life," she said.

"I love you," he said, voice marginally stronger.

"I love you too," she said. "I won't be long."

And his heart beat its last. She kissed the back of his hand and laid it gently on his chest. Then she got up to tell her children.

28 - Ancient

After Zuko died, Katara took up permanent residence in the South Pole because the cold felt better than the heat. They offered to house her in the Chief's home, but she preferred a small house behind the healing center. She was given great honors as an elder, and was often asked to attend births. She spent much time with Zayla and her grandchildren and so on, and watched them grow with soft, warm pride. Ten years passed like they were nothing.

But for her one hundredth birthday, all of her whole, huge, extended family gathered in the South Pole. The whole Tribe had turned it into an excuse to throw a party, in fact, and she tolerated this with patience and humor. Many dignitaries from around the world came, like the strange young Chiefs from the Northern Tribe, and many nobles from the Earth Kingdom, and many of the Airbenders (and the fact that there were many still took her breath away). Even the new young Avatar, that strong, Southern girl who was such a pride for Katara, visited with her clever new wife.

They made a platform for her to sit on at the head of the central courtyard, and foods of every nation were prepared and arranged. The day was a procession of relatives and descendants, and Katara greeted them all lovingly, even when she couldn't remember exactly how they were related. Was this Omika's granddaughter or Zayla's? Did Hira's son Eikichi have two children, or three? Was that Airbending girl related to her through Sokka's son Suda's marriage to Aang's daughter Malu, or Omika's daughter's marriage to Aang's grandson through his son Bumi? She still marvelled, even after having so many years to get used to it, that her children were of two nations, her grandchildren were of three, and her great-grandchildren and beyond were of four. And now here they all were, gathered in one place together, all laughing and celebrating and telling stories and figuring out how they were all connected. "Oh, yeah, I remember when Uncle Suda would take all of us cousins fishing—" "...and then when Grandpa Iroh abdicated, it was Uncle Jiro who was Fire Lord, and now it's his daughter Mei Lin and someday it'll be her son Kuzon, so I'm not really in line, but that's okay because—" "...because then their third baby was born blind, so thank goodness she was an Earthbender rather than a Firebender so Toph could teach—"

Katara smiled out over the crowds of them. The world was peaceful and prosperous. Her Tribe had recovered from the War long ago and was thriving. Her family was large and healthy and strong. She was a hundred years old. She had seen history made and shaped the course of the future. She was proud of her people and their accomplishments. She had outlived her husband, her brother, and all of her old friends. All of their children, and their children, and their children, would continue to love one another and maintain balance in the world. She had done her part and couldn't be prouder.

29 - Crown

The day of their wedding was bright and windy, and the banners snapped and fluttered in the air. Guests from all Nations mingled in the courtyard, waiting for the big event. There was some anxiety: after all, the end of the War was only two years past, and trust in the Fire Nation was still uncertain. Ozai and Azula loyalists still cropped up, like the one Zuko had just recently fought an Agni Kai against for the right to marry his love. But things were remarkably settled, considering that, and the mixed crowds were calm.

Then Head Fire Sage Shyu stepped out and a hush fell over the courtyard. "Today we celebrate the union of Fire Lord Zuko and Master Katara of the Southern Water Tribe. This marriage is a sign of the new peace the world is enjoying, thanks to the Avatar and his allies, two of whom we celebrate today." Sage Shyu's voice was thick with pride and happiness. Shyu had assisted Avatar Aang in making contact with Avatar Roku during the Solstice several years ago, and had been imprisoned for what the other Sages called treason. Fire Lord Zuko had had him freed and made Head Sage, and Shyu was thrilled that the angry youth he had briefly witnessed back then had become the strong, assured young man who now ruled his Nation and was marrying this powerful new ally from the South Pole. "Let us celebrate them, and take their love as the cue that the rest of us should follow in the months and years ahead, so that the world may become more harmonious and balanced and strong." He raised his arms and the drums sounded an eager beat, and the bride and groom entered the stage from either side, magnificent and proud, and there were admiring signs from the audience. They came and knelt together in front of Shyu, and he smiled down at them.

The ceremony itself was simple. Shyu called upon the Spirits and gathered mortals to witness their union and had the bride and groom speak vows. And lastly, because it was the Fire Lord's marriage, there was the ceremonial crowning. Lord Zuko, of course, had already been crowned, at the ceremony marking the end of the War, but it was traditional that if a Fire Lord married when he was already on the throne, that he and his new wife be crowned together to show the partnership of power they were entering into. Shyu took Zuko's crown first from one of the attendant Sages, and slid it into its holder where it bound his topknot. And then he took the crown that had not been worn since Lady Ilah died all those years ago. He paused reverently with the shining thing in his hands, looking down at Master Katara—momentarily to be Lady Katara. Then, slowly, joyfully, he reached down and inserted it into the holder nestled in her hair. Katara looked up at him and smiled such a beautiful, happy smile that he couldn't help but return it. But then she turned to Zuko and before the Fire Lord had totally understood what was happening, she pulled him to her for their first kiss as husband and wife. There were scandalized gasps from Fire Nation nobles, and hoots and cheers from everyone else, and Shyu laughed because with these two together at the helm, there was no way that the world couldn't prosper.

**A/N**

**I had so much fun writing these this month! I definitely came up with some stuff that I wanted to explore futher, so I may end up posting one-shots in this premise later on. Like I definitely want to learn more about Toph and Aang's blind Airbender son, I'm sure his life is super interesting. **

**Families:  
****Z/K: Hira (15) Timao (13) Omika, Zayla (0) [Katara is 18 when Hira is born]  
****S/S: Tuluk (16) Suda (9)  
****T/A: Lin (9) Bumi, Malu, Roshi (7) Su (1)**

**All characters are owned by Bryke, Nick, and Viacom.**

**E.I. signing out**


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